Model Printing Press Co London No3
Hi there, is anyone able to shed some light on the approximate age of this Model Printing Co No3 press?
I have attached images.
Thanks so much, much appreciation in advance :-).
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The company was in operation roughly between 1884 and 1906.
Squintani registered the UK patent in 1877 and split from his partners in 1884. The Model Printing Press Company then produced the presses until presumably 1906 when they went bust and Excelsior Printer’s Supplies took over.
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Model presses are hard to date because the pattern changed so little over a long period of time and the Excelsior Printers’ Supply Company continued to sell presses made from the “Model” patterns for many decades after the demise of the original company.
The machines were manufactured for much of their existence by the old firm of Peter Hooker of Walthamstow (q.v. Wikipedia). In 1914, around the time of their takeover of the Model Printing Press Company, Excelsior (which became a limited company in 1916) wrote to Hooker, asking for details of the parts, patterns and jigs they held for the presses. Around eight pages of typescript were supplied, noting every part, from the cast iron body to the smallest springs. The correspondence and parts lists are held at St Bride Library in London.
In 1963 an article appeared in “The Black Art” magazine, stating that manufacture of the presses had ended in the 1930s. Another letter held at St Bride, dated 7 May 1963, corrects this. Mr Sibley, proprietor of the Excelsior Printers’ Supply Company confirms that production actually ceased in 1960.
Remarkably, brand new Model presses were still being sold by Excelsior in the mid-1980s, assembled from their stock of parts cast at the beginning of the 1960s, so they are not always as old as people might assume.
The Excelsior Printers’ Supply Company was eventually liquidated in January 1993 with liabilities of around £6,000.
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Amazing info thanks so much :-)